Mine excursion
Coal mining is more than meets the eye , writes Leon Louw .
The renewed optimism that has gripped South Africa after the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of the ANC in December 2017 , is bound to have a ripple effect on the mining industry . Although there is still a palpable dearth of exploration and greenfield projects in South Africa , things are looking up . The strengthening of the rand against most other foreign currencies is not the best news for bulk exporters like iron ore , manganese , and coal ; however , the new-found political stability will lure foreign investors and boost the confidence of local mining companies . In fact , there has been a marked uptick in the number of coal exploration projects over the past year or so , as new entrants clamber to supply the beleaguered public utility Eskom .
For a commodity that is perceived by most as a run-of-the-mill , boring chemical conglomeration that is burned in boilers to keep the lights on , surprisingly , coal has made more than its fair share of headlines over the past few years . Load-shedding , wet coal , silo collapse , the Guptas , Glencore , Optimum Coal , and Eskom are all catchphrases that have almost become part of the South African vernacular . So why all the fuss about coal ?
Keeping the wheels turning
In South Africa , coal is , as the layperson believes , the one thing that really keeps the economic wheels turning . Without coal , there is no electricity , despite recent gains made by renewable energy sources like solar and wind . Coal is one of the most abundant and easiest resources to mine in South Africa . It occurs in shallow seams in large parts of the country and is arguably one of the more profitable mining ventures to take on . The nature of most coal deposits in South Africa lends itself to opencast mining , which requires significantly less capital inputs compared to a deep underground platinum mine , for example . Moreover , the coal washing process is a lot simpler than the chemical process applied to extract platinum from the ore body and naturally , a lot cheaper .
As a result , coal is targeted by many junior exploration companies with a view that it is easy , simple , and profitable to mine . However , a word of caution : there is a lot more to coal than meets the eye . Those who believe that mining coal is an easy route to affluence and who dismiss this fossil fuel as nothing more than an organic compound waiting to be burned in a boiler , should think twice and would do well to visit one of the top coal testing laboratories in South Africa .
Photos by Leon Louw
The complexities of coal
Analysing coal , understanding its properties and qualities , and applying that knowledge to optimise its applications , is exceedingly more complicated
MARCH 2018 MINING MIRROR [ 13 ]